Labor Force Statistics from the Current Population Survey

Work Experience of the Population (Annual) News Release

For release 10:00 a.m. (EST) Tuesday, December 16, 2014 USDL-14-2247
Technical information: (202) 691-6378 • cpsinfo@bls.gov • www.bls.gov/cps
Media contact: (202) 691-5902 • PressOffice@bls.gov
WORK EXPERIENCE OF THE POPULATION -- 2013
A total of 157.0 million persons worked at some point during 2013, the U.S. Bureau
of Labor Statistics reported today. The proportion of the civilian noninstitutional
population age 16 and over who worked at some time during 2013 was 63.5 percent,
little different from 63.8 percent in 2012. The number of persons who experienced
some unemployment during 2013 decreased by 1.5 million to 20.9 million.
These data are based on information collected in the Annual Social and Economic
Supplement (ASEC) to the Current Population Survey (CPS). The CPS is a monthly
survey conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau for the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The ASEC collects information on employment and unemployment experienced during
the prior calendar year. Additional information about the CPS and the ASEC, including
concepts and definitions, is provided in the Technical Note.
Highlights from the 2013 data:
• The proportion of workers who worked full time, year round in 2013 was 66.9
percent, up from 65.5 percent the prior year. (See table 1.)
• The "work-experience unemployment rate"--defined as the number of persons
unemployed at some time during the year as a proportion of the number of
persons who worked or looked for work during the year--fell by 1.0 percentage
point over the year to 12.9 percent in 2013. (See table 3.)
• About 4.8 million individuals looked for a job but did not work at all in
2013, down from 5.5 million in 2012. (See table 3.)
__________________________________________________________________________
| |
| Reduced sample for 2013 work experience estimates |
| |
| The 2013 data in this news release are based on fewer sample responses |
| than in recent years. Work experience data for calendar year 2013 were |
| collected in the 2014 Annual Social and Economic Supplement (ASEC) to |
| the Current Population Survey (CPS). Approximately three-eighths of the |
| 2014 CPS ASEC sample was used to test redesigned questions on income |
| and health insurance coverage; this portion of the sample was not used |
| to generate estimates in this news release. |
|__________________________________________________________________________|
Persons with Employment
The proportion of men who worked during 2013 was 69.2 percent, and the proportion of
women who worked during the year was 58.2 percent. These proportions were little
changed from 2012. (See table 1.)
Similarly, the proportions of whites (64.3 percent), blacks (58.8 percent), Asians
(63.4 percent), and Hispanics (64.4 percent) who worked at some time during 2013 were
little changed from the prior year. (See table 2.)
Although the proportion having work experience during 2013 was little changed from a
year earlier, those who did work were more likely to work full time and more likely
to work year round. Among those with work experience during 2013, 79.0 percent
usually worked full time, up from 78.4 percent in 2012. Men continued to be more
likely to work full time during the year (85.5 percent) than women (71.8 percent).
The proportion of employed men working full time rose over the year, while the
proportion of women working full time changed little. (See table 1.)
Of the total who worked during 2013, 77.8 percent were employed year round (working
50 to 52 weeks, either full or part time), up by 1.1 percentage points from 2012. The
percentage of men working year round increased by 1.3 percentage points to 79.8
percent in 2013, while the percentage of women employed year round rose by 1.1
percentage points to 75.7 percent.
Persons with Unemployment
Overall, 161.8 million persons worked or looked for work at some time in 2013. Of
those, 20.9 million experienced some unemployment during the year, 1.5 million fewer
than in 2012. (See table 3.)
The work-experience unemployment rate (those looking for work during the year as a
percent of those who worked or looked for work during the year) continued to decline.
At 12.9 percent in 2013, the work-experience unemployment rate was 1.0 percentage
point lower than in 2012. The 2013 work-experience unemployment rates for whites
(12.1 percent), blacks (18.7 percent), and Hispanics (15.7 percent) declined from
a year earlier, while the rate for Asians (9.9 percent) changed little.
(See tables 3 and 4.)
Overall, men continued to have higher work-experience unemployment rates in 2013 than
women, 13.5 percent versus 12.2 percent. Among whites, blacks, and Hispanics, the rates
for men were higher than the rates for women. Among Asians, the rates for men and women
were little different from each other.
Among those who experienced unemployment in 2013, the median number of weeks spent
looking for work was 17.9. The number of persons who looked for a job but did not work
at all in 2013 declined by 688,000 over the year to 4.8 million. Of the 16.1 million
individuals who worked during 2013 and also experienced unemployment, 20.7 percent had
two or more spells of joblessness, down slightly from 22.2 percent in 2012. (See table 3.)

Technical Note
The data presented in this release were collected in the Annual Social and
Economic Supplement (ASEC) to the Current Population Survey (CPS). The CPS is a
monthly sample survey of about 60,000 eligible households, conducted by the U.S.
Census Bureau for the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Data from the CPS
are used to obtain the monthly estimates of the nation's employment and unemployment
levels. The ASEC, conducted in the months of February through April, includes
questions about work activity during the prior calendar year. For instance, data
collected in 2014 refer to the 2013 calendar year. Because the reference period
is a full year, the number of persons with some employment or unemployment greatly
exceeds the average levels for any given month, which are based on a 1-week
reference period, and the corresponding annual average of the monthly estimates.
As shown below, for example, the number experiencing any unemployment was about
twice the number unemployed in an average month during the year.
Employed Unemployed
2013 estimates (in thousands)
Annual average of
monthly estimates 143,929 11,460
Annual supplement data 156,987 20,880
In addition, estimates from the supplement differ from those obtained in the
basic CPS because the questions used to classify workers as either employed or
unemployed are different. More important, perhaps, is that the supplement contains
fewer questions for categorizing respondents. In regard to unemployment in particular,
the supplement has no questions on the type of job search activity or on the respondent's
availability to work. Also, individuals can be counted as both employed and unemployed
in the work experience supplement data, whereas, for a specific monthly reference
week, each person is only counted in one category and employment activity takes
precedence over job search activity.
The 2013 data in this news release, collected in the 2014 ASEC, are based on fewer
sample responses than in recent years. Approximately three-eighths of the 2014 CPS ASEC
sample was used to test redesigned questions on income and health insurance coverage; this
portion of the sample was not used to generate the estimates in this news release.
The data presented in this release are not strictly comparable with data for
earlier years due to the introduction of updated population controls used in
the CPS. The population controls are updated each year in January to reflect the
latest information about population change. Additional information is available
online at www.bls.gov/cps/documentation.htm#pop.
Reliability of the estimates
Statistics based on the CPS are subject to both sampling and nonsampling error.
When a sample, rather than the entire population, is surveyed, there is a chance that
the sample estimates may differ from the true population values they represent. The
component of this difference that occurs because samples differ by chance is known as
sampling error, and its variability is measured by the standard error of the estimate.
There is about a 90-percent chance, or level of confidence, that an estimate based on a
sample will differ by no more than 1.6 standard errors from the true population value
because of sampling error. BLS analyses are generally conducted at the 90-percent level
of confidence.
The CPS data also are affected by nonsampling error. Nonsampling error can occur
for many reasons, including the failure to sample a segment of the population, inability
to obtain information for all respondents in the sample, inability or unwillingness
of respondents to provide correct information, and errors made in the collection or
processing of the data.
A discussion of the reliability of data from the CPS and information on estimating
standard errors is available at www.bls.gov/cps/documentation.htm#reliability.
Concepts and definitions
The principle concepts and definitions used in connection with the data in this
release are described briefly below.
Persons who worked. In the 2014 supplement, persons are considered to have worked
if they responded "yes" to either the question "Did you work at a job or business at
any time during 2013?" or "Did you do any temporary, part-time, or seasonal work even
for a few days during 2013?"
Unemployed persons. Persons who worked during the year but not in every week are
counted as unemployed if they also reported looking for work or being on layoff from a
job during the year. Those who reported no work activity during the year are considered
unemployed if they responded "yes" to the question "Even though you did not work in
2013, did you spend any time trying to find a job or on layoff?"
Work-experience unemployment rate. The number of persons unemployed at some time
during the year as a proportion of the number of persons who worked or looked for work
during the year.
Usual full- and part-time employment. These data refer to the number of hours an
employed person typically works during most weeks of the year. Workers are classified
as full time if they usually worked 35 hours or more in a week; part-time employment
refers to workers whose typical workweek was between 1 and 34 hours.
Year-round and part-year employment. Workers are classified as year round if they
worked 50 to 52 weeks. Part-year employment refers to workers who worked fewer than 50
weeks.
Other information
Information in this release will be made available to sensory impaired individuals
upon request. Voice phone: (202) 691-5200; Federal Relay Service: (800) 877-8339.